Linked Up

I missed a lot during my week off and out of town. Now that I'm back, here's a roundup of some of the stuff bouncing around my the corners of mind. Lots and lots of news ... I don't even mention sports here:

It's important to remember that, as Colin Powell mentioned near the end of his endorsement of Barack Obama, our Muslim brothers and sisters are also serving this country overseas. (He was referring to the picture at right on "Meet the Press") Brothers like Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, who was killed in Iraq on Aug. 6, 2007, and whose remains were buried in Arlington. Obviously, plenty of people have lost sight of that sort of sacrifice over the course of this presidential campaign.

The Virginia GOP is losing its fucking mind. Honestly. This sort of stuff makes me sad for true, honest-to-goodness conservatives.

I mean, though I'm something of a socialist and all, I think that there are more than a few solid ideas coming from the conservative movement. You can make rational cases for deregulation in a number of industries, for instance. Not that I agree but I'll entertain those arguments.

But people like this, eh, they totally obscure those arguments with this sort of nonsense. Not just that, but it essentially limits brown-skinned folks to a single choice in electoral politics. I mean, it's extremely hard for me to swallow that sort of garbage and think voting Republican would be in my best interests.

This is an example of real voter fraud in California and, believe it or not, ACORN isn't involved. I refuse to patronize FOX News, so tell me, how did this play on their "news"casts?

More on voter fraud. To me, voting can sometimes prove to be a needlessly convoluted process.

Interesting post from Michael Tomasky, who shares a provocative e-mail highlighting some of the hypocrisy of racial stereotypes, especially when it comes to our presidential and veep nominees.

Florida is supposed to be central to McCain's hopes to claim the White House on Nov. 4. Looks like state GOP officials could care less. Particularly Gov. Charlie Crist, who at one time was thought to be a frontrunner for McCain's veep role. I wonder if Crist's reluctance to get on the stump for McCain is an effort to distance himself from a losing campaign and get in position for a 2012 run against potential candidates Bobby Jindal, Mike Huckabee and, ugh, Palin. Just saying.

Rush Limbaugh, Pat Buchanan and their right-wingy ridiculous ilk are sooooo predictable. Of course they believe Powell's endorsement of Obama comes down to simple - and, thus, simple-minded - racial solidarity. In the words of Steve Benen, "Far-right political analysis -- it's easier than thinking." And people wonder why I fiercely defend the "not guilty" verdict in the O.J. murder trial.

Spreading the wealth, McCain style.

I'm not sure how much newspaper endorsements matter but, for whatever it's worth, Obama is kicking McCain's ass. For what it's worth, my newspaper hasn't yet issued an opinion.

TNC points out that, all that noise in the primaries about Latinos not be willing to back Obama turned out to be, well, noise.